University of Southern Mississippi students Tineciaa Harris, 20, left, Nichol Armstrong, 22, and Kim Howe, 21, discuss the upcoming hearings into the dismissal of tenured professors Frank Glamser and Gary Stringer outside of Mississippi Hall on the USM campus.

University hearing facts

As University of Southern Mississippi students turn in their final projects and prepare for final exams, few say they will follow this week's termination hearings of tenured professors Frank Glamser and Gary Stringer.

Apparently graduation has taken greater importance than monitoring how the hearings will play out between the two professors and the USM administration. Some students said the Glamser/Stringer hearings will be a distraction - coming so close to the end of the semester.

Since March 5, the Glamser/Stringer controversy has created a storm of dissent and support over the action taken by USM President Shelby Thames in seeking to fire Glamser and Stringer.

Thames has maintained that Glamser and Stringer violated unspecified university regulations in looking into the academic credentials of USM vice president Angie Dvorak.

The two-day hearings, which will be open to the public, will begin at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday on the Hattiesburg campus, with Reuben Anderson, a former state Supreme Court justice, appointed to hear testimony. Members of local, state and national media are expected to be on campus for the termination hearings.

"This is my last semester of classes and I am really trying to focus on finishing my classes and getting ready for my student teaching," said Nichol Armstrong, 22, a senior deaf education major who will graduate in December.

"I think there are still a lot of students who are concerned, but they just aren't as vocal as they were at first," Armstrong added.

Glamser and Stringer were suspended with pay by Thames and precipitated several on-campus protests and no-confidence votes against Thames by the Faculty Senate and the full USM faculty.

Timothy Moncure, a sophomore marketing major from Utica, said the entire situation should have been handled differently by the USM administration.

"I think it was a poor decision by Dr. Thames to fire them in the middle of the semester," Moncure said. "That decision affected a lot of students and I think it showed a lack of interest on Thames' behalf as far as students are concerned."

Meanwhile, Kim Howe, a junior business administration major from Clinton, said the suspensions bothered her because both Glamser and Stringer were tenured.

"There aren't a lot of tenured professors left here," she said. "I think the university and students need the leadership of tenured professors."

Amlan Mitra, a freshman medical technology major from Oak Grove, said his perspective of USM has changed since Thames suspended the two professors.

"It makes me doubt the administration," said Mitra, who said he plans on keeping up with the hearings.

Jason Johnson, a senior liberal arts major from Gulfport, said it's unfortunate the hearings are taking place a week before final exams.

"It's going to be kind of distracting," he said. "I guess I'll just have to avoid the student union all week."

Moncure said he doesn't think the hearings will be a distraction.

"Again, if Thames had waited until the end of the semester, none of this would be happening right now," Moncure said. "We'd be finishing up our finals and going home peacefully and not under the spotlight of national media."

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Originally published Monday, April 26, 2004